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A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Robert Clarke, has said that state governors cannot challenge the Federal Government for implementing an existing law.
Clarke spoke in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday,
He spoke on the background of 16 state governments that approached the Supreme Court, challenging the legality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The suit was instituted by the Kogi State Government, and joined by Ondo, Edo, Oyo, Ogun, Nassarawa states, among others.
The court had fixed October 22, 2024, for the hearing.
The elder statesman said, “They have a legal right as governors to bring before the Supreme Court an action that challenges a law that is repugnant to the constitution.
“If you look at the antecedents of the operations of these laws, many of the very notorious (cases), I will not use the word notorious derogatorily — have been involving sitting governors, governors that are out of office, and therefore, they have every right to be jittery that this matter is mainly created for the governors’ bubbles but I do not see to that point.
“If there is anything in that law that runs against the constitution, they should let us know. But if there is no law today that says the Federal Government cannot pass a law relating to criminal acts of governors during their period of executive work, then I doubt whether they are treading the correct grounds.
“They cannot challenge the Federal Government for implementing an existing law. They cannot challenge the police or any other agency of government that is executing an existing law. This law they are trying to challenge is a law that was created at the start of our laws as of today.”
The EFCC has lately been after some former governors including that of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.
Also, an ex-governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku, was granted a N150 million bail, and barred from travelling out of the country pending the conclusion of his ongoing N27bn fraud trial.
